"Front Page Story" by Neil Diamond

Song#:  1422
Date:  04/23/1983
Debut:  84
Peak:  65
Weeks:  8
Genre:  Pop, Adult Contemporary



Pop Bits:  Diamond's third single from his "Heartlight" album couldn't make much of a dent in the Pop chart. Although his career was in decline in the pop/rock world, he was still a star on AC radio and this song would be another Top 10 hit for him there reaching #5. Diamond would stop having Pop chart entries after 1986, but he would continue to grab AC Top 10's throughout the remainder of the decade.

ReduxReview:  I have to say that I love Neil Diamond and I also love Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager. So a dream team of the legendary writers should produce some great songs. They ended up writing six song for Diamond's "Heartlight" album, but besides the timely title-track (#5 pop, #1 AC), the collabs were as dull as a butter knife. They were all snoozers including this track. It was highly disappointing. Every songwriter has their lackluster efforts, but I expected better from this power trio. I'm truly surprised this mundane tune did so well at AC. I'm assuming Diamond's name helped boost it along. I still loves me some Diamond - just not this song (or really this period in his career).

ReduxRating:  3/10

Trivia:  Before Diamond was having major success on his own, his songs were getting picked up and covered by other artists. In 1965, he had his first hit as a writer when Jay and the Americans took "Sunday and Me" to #18. Then The Monkees charted in 1966 with "I'm a Believer" (#1) and in 1967 with "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You" (#2). The hits secured Diamond's reputation as a songwriter and helped to launch his solo career. Although he scored two Top 10's early on with "Cherry, Cherry" (#6, 1966) and "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" (#10, 1967), his career didn't fully take off until 1969 when he topped the chart with "Sweet Caroline."

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